Getting cold, door locks getting stiff ?

cary · 10-24-2003, 04:51 PM

Well, I thought I had cleaned them up good enough for the locks to work in cold weather. Not to be.

I cleaned the door latch. I'm wondering if the stiffness is coming fom the interior latch instead ?
Thoughts and words of wisdom.

I tried to do a search. But somebody turned it off.

skline · skline's Garage

That is the Porsche GOD telling you to put your car away for the winter so that it may live again next spring.

cary · 10-24-2003, 07:19 PM

Almost............its 20 in the am, but a beautiful 55 and BIG SKY in the afternoon. Almost warm enough to take top off.

It will be going to bed pretty soon.

Amark · 10-24-2003, 09:31 PM

I took the latch assemblies out of my doors & soaked the in solvent. They had 30 years of old grease & dirt in them. Grease them with some lithium grease & reinstall them. They work like new.

HarryD · 07:43 AM

For locks, my locksmith sold me some spray stuff called TriFlow Worked wonders on my tired ignition key. Before it was very stiff, now, almost like new. I asked him about some of the other lubricants and he told me that many of them work ok for a while then turn to a gummy mess. TriFlow seems to stay as a lubricant.

pbanders · pbanders's Garage

Amark is right. The original grease is like stickum by now. But it's not just the cylinders, it's the whole thing. Open the door panel, remove all of the lock and latch components, clean and relube. I did it a couple of years ago, amazing difference.

cary · 10-27-2003, 09:09 AM

That's what I did. The latch seems to be the culprit. Seems like a poor design. A lot of metal on metal surfaces.

I took it out the latch. Soaked it for hours in the parts washer. Lubed her up. Seems to be working great. Left it out last night. Not real cold, but didn't get stiff.
But I did find the little arm at the end of the core a little loose. Which would have made matters worse when it got cold.

I'm going to do the passenger side tonight.